Pages

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

CHICAGO

and it was everything I knew it would be. I walked until the soles of my feet felt bruised, talked until my throat was hoarse, and ate Chicago Mix popcorn until my fingers were stained yellow.

I also found time to buy a few very cute maternity items, including a pair of jeans that make me feel sexy despite their elastic topped waist band. On Sunday I picked up a few Christmas gifts and Chicago-themed stocking stuffers for Landon.

And I'm still pleased with his Chicago snow globe even if the damned thing cost me $20 on the flight home because it counts as a "liquid" and I had to check my bag. I never, ever check bags. I pack lightly and own every toiletry in mini-size. I felt defeated as I pulled my suitcase out of the security line to the ticket counter to check it. But Landon is going to love that snow globe. I will make sure of it.

It's so wonderful to return to a city you knew and loved. It's even better when you have a good friend to stay with and more friends to meet up with to eat 2" thick pizza. I missed my boys, but unlike a business trip where I have nothing to do but listen to the silence in my hotel room and miss the craziness of our usual evening routine, this trip was filled with talking and laughter and shopping. It was everything I needed to reconnect with my friend and my favorite city.

It was the best Christmas gift JP could have given me and I love him even more for making it so easy for me to pick up and leave without having to worry about a thing back at home. He told me not to bring anything back for him from Chicago as he had no desire to remember it, but I did bring Landon a daddy-approved souveneir cowboy hat from the Austin airport.

I can't wait to bring my little Chicagoan to visit his birthplace one day. Maybe next year- JP already volunteered to stay home and visit the Alamo with the Texas baby.

7 comments:

i had to post because i too had to sacrifice a snow globe during security! how obnoxious. however i, unlike you, not only don't ever check bags - but i also never arrive with time to spare - so the globe was sacrificed to TSA. what made it worse was that my husband (a true star wars fiend) had got the globe for christmas - a real "collector's item" as it housed a perfect star wars scene - and, as we were walking away, the TSA guy said (quite loudly) how excited his son would be to get it. LAME.

Preggers:It was so great seeing you. But I thought you were going to blog about me wonderful me. I'm thinking that my charm, as recounted by your deft English touch, could be used to find me a girlfriend. A blog read (one presumes) mostly by new mothers would be a great place to spread the word. Let me know if I should send you my business or personal CV. ~D

I was born abroad and raised in the USA. I consider myself a full blown American; all of my schooling was here, the media I consumed, the friends I made throughout my life, my perception of the world completely molded by being in this nation.

That being said, I'm not of the mindset that where your child is born determines whether he's a Texan or Chicagoan. He's being raised in Texas and Texas is the state he'll remember attending elementary school in and being forced to learn Texas history. Kind of have to admit that he's bound to be a Texan unless you move him anytime soon.

I think most people understood that it's not that I'm going to raise one child to think he's somehow different from the others based on where he was born or pretend like he's not a Texan even if he spends 99% of his life here, but rather that it will be fun to have a special weekend in Chicago to show Landon where he spent the first year of his life while JP stays home with the new baby/toddler. And when this baby and future children are old enough, I'll look forward to showing them Chicago too.

Welcome!

"Lag liv," imperfectly translated, means "law life" in Swedish. I'm half Swedish and I was in law school back when I wrote my first post in 2006, so Lag Liv I became and Lag Liv I still am!

Now I'm a full-time attorney, part-time barre teacher, and all-the-time wife and mom of three. We live a busy life in charming Fort Worth, Texas. You can read more about me and my cast of characters in the About Me and My Blog page. Happy reading and if you'd like to contact me, my email is lagliv [at] gmail [dot] com.